Bolboceras Dung Beetle vs Four-Spotted Hister Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Bolboceras Dung Beetle Four-Spotted Hister Beetle
Scientific Name Bolboceras armiger Hister quadrimaculatus
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Geotrupidae Histeridae
Size 10-18 mm 5-7 mm
Habitat Gardens Heathland
Diet Dung Feeders Dung Feeders
Regions Australia Europe
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Bolboceras Dung Beetle

A stout, rounded earth-boring beetle with a yellowish-brown body and a prominent horn on the male head. It digs deep burrows to cultivate subterranean fungal gardens rather than provisioning with dung. Adults are attracted to lights.

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Did You Know?

Rather than eating dung, this earth-boring beetle cultivates underground fungal gardens in its burrows.

Four-Spotted Hister Beetle

A glossy black hister beetle with four orange-red spots on its wing cases. It is associated with mammal dung in pastures and heathlands.

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Did You Know?

It typically arrives at fresh dung within the first hour and remains for several days until the pat dries out.